Sunday, 29 April 2012

At the end of a long week, I met some colleagues from the magazine I used to work for in the local pub. One of them, Rob, is working for the most visited newspaper website in the world (Mail Online). He's also just about to become a father and, tired of the 12 hour days he's required to put in, has handed in his notice. His wife has had to endure most of her pregnancy without him because of his workload and he doesn't want her to have to raise the child in the same way. Rob's going freelance and won't be wanting for work. He's got a brain the size of a planet and a steadfast memory, but most importantly, he writes about things he's really interested in: the web, gadgets, games and science. Plus he's a really good writer. Mail Online don't just employ any old idiot you know. Incidentally, for a brilliant insight into the Daily Mail, the second most popular (and often very controversial) newspaper in the UK, the New Yorker ran a brilliant article on it here.

An Expert, yesterday.

Over our third pint, he gave me some advice. Choose a subject that you're really into anyway or that you want to learn a lot about and then become the expert in that field. In other words, corner the market. If commissioning editors know that you're the go-to guy (or girl) on a particular subject, you'll always get work. Up until now I've tried all kinds of writing and it's been really enjoyable - I like getting given a subject I know nothing about, like the MFI's I wrote about, researching it and bringing it to a wider audience. But I think Rob might be right. All I've got to work out now is which subject I really have a passion for. So if you want to take some advice from Rob, a writer who does write for a living, it's specialise.

About Me

I'm now a Content Editor at Matter&Co, where amongst other things, I write a lot for Pioneers Post. As a freelance writer, I got commissions from the Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Mail Online, Marie Claire, Metro, The Telegraph and Square Mile (to name a few). I still do the odd bit of freelance writing but rarely have the time.

I like writing positive stories and as well as the many people I write about on Pioneers Post whose work has meaning and does good, I'm interested in the kind of achievers that appear in Pass Me On, a daisy chain of interviews exploring six degrees of separation.

The majority of my freelance writing covered culture, travel and reviewing restaurants. A selection of clippings can be read here. I spent six years trying to make writing be my main source of income. The highs and lows are all documented at Can I Write for a Living?